I guess the fungus is the mucky looking stuff? What does it taste like?

The huitlacoche is the black stuff. When it is fresh, it is a deep blue/black mass. When you can cook up some fresh huitlacoche, the flavor is a like a rich, deep, earthy mushroom with chocolatey undertones. I used canned ones for that pizza, which is still good if doctored up, but not even close to the fresh stuff. I've also seen it sold frozen. Many corn farmers throw it away when they find it growing on the corn. They call it corn smut. Clever marketing types have dubbed it "corn truffles" or "Mexican truffles. Regardless, it is delicacy when fresh.

I've got some canned ones that I'm planning to use this week to make some ravioli with a poblano cream sauce.

The huitlacoche is the black stuff. When it is fresh, it is a deep blue/black mass. When you can cook up some fresh huitlacoche, the flavor is a like a rich, deep, earthy mushroom with chocolatey undertones. I used canned ones for that pizza, which is still good if doctored up, but not even close to the fresh stuff. I've also seen it sold frozen. Many corn farmers throw it away when they find it growing on the corn. They call it corn smut. Clever marketing types have dubbed it "corn truffles" or "Mexican truffles. Regardless, it is delicacy when fresh.

I've got some canned ones that I'm planning to use this week to make some ravioli with a poblano cream sauce.

I meant to respond to this when Bill posted it...I worked for a plant geneticist for 5 summers on the Oregon State University Research Farm and my least favorite data to collect was the corn smut trials. I would always save that plot to work at the end of the day because I would end up covered with black smut spores... even on my teeth and in my blonde hair! Farmers hate corn smut because the spores spread it so rapidly that it can decimate an entire field very quickly . Had I only known that you could EAT that stuff.... but it looks so disgusting on the ears of corn, I often wonder who was the first to stick it in their mouths... I'm guessing some poor farmer who had no choice but to eat the infested corn. Interesting that it has become a delicacy!